Alfajores Recipe
Alfajores are one of the national treats that immediately come to mind when Argentine cuisine is mentioned. Since many Argentinians live in Spain, it’s very common to see them all over the country, both in supermarkets and in the display cases of cafés. Although there are many varieties of alfajores, including fruit-filled and chocolate-coated versions, the most common one you’ll encounter is this version filled with dulce de leche and coated with shredded coconut around the edges.
We prepared these cookies together with the mother of my Argentine friend. That’s why the order of adding ingredients is different from the way I usually make baked goods. I always start by mixing the wet ingredients first and then add the dry ingredients gradually. Since I add the dry ingredients little by little, I never end up worrying about having added too much flour and wondering how to loosen the dough. But this wasn’t always my approach. Both my mother and my grandmother, whose cooking styles I grew up watching, would start by putting the flour into the bowl first when making dough. Looking at this recipe, it’s clear that this method was used in the past not only in Turkey but also in different parts of the world. Although my friend’s mother said we could also make it using my usual method, I insisted on preparing it the way she always does, in its most original form.
In fact, this turned out to be beneficial. If I had started with the wet ingredients, I wouldn’t have made the dough this firm. With that method, I might have struggled to incorporate this much flour and starch into the dough. But it turns out that the dough is supposed to be firmer than classic cookie dough.
What Is Dulce de Leche?
Dulce de leche is another food that immediately comes to mind when Argentine cuisine is mentioned. I don’t know if it’s still as popular as before, but it was also very popular in Turkey for a while. Dulce de leche is a thick, milk-based dessert sauce with a caramel-like flavor. It’s basically made by slowly cooking milk and sugar together over low heat for a long time, stirring continuously. During this process, the milk thickens, the sugar caramelizes, and the result is a cream that’s denser than sweetened condensed milk, with its own distinctive aroma.
How to Make Gluten-Free Alfajores
By the way, since my friend has celiac disease, her mother has some experience with gluten-free recipes. She has made this recipe before by using the same amount of rice flour instead of regular flour, and it turned out well. If you’d like to make it gluten-free, you can follow this method.
Enjoy…
Ingredients
- 200 g butter, at room temperature,
- 1 egg,
- 2 egg yolks,
- 150 g sugar,
- 300 g flour,
- 200 g starch,
- Zest of 1 lemon,
- 2 tablespoons brandy (optional),
- A pinch of scraped vanilla,
- 1 level teaspoon baking powder,
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda,
- Dulce de leche,
- 1 cup shredded coconut.
Preparation
- Mix the starch and flour in a bowl,
- Add the sugar, lemon zest, baking powder, baking soda, and vanilla and mix,
- Add the brandy, egg, egg yolks, and butter, then knead,
- Place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll it out to about 1/2 cm thickness,
- Cut out rounds with a cookie cutter and arrange them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper,
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (350°F) until the tops crack and the bottoms turn lightly golden,
- Once the cookies have cooled, spread a teaspoon of dulce de leche between two cookies and sandwich them together,
- Roll the edges in shredded coconut.
Enjoy!